Arsenal plot summary du jour
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The film opens with a high-school teacher Rainer Wenger (Jürgen Vogel) driving to his job while passionately singing along to a cover of Rock 'n' Roll High School. The high school is having a project week and Wenger discusses autocracy with his class. His students, third generation after the Second World War,[2] do not believe that a dictatorship could be established in modern Germany, so Wenger starts an experiment to demonstrate how easily the masses can be manipulated. Two classes are chosen: Wenger's to be the autocracy group, and another to be the anarchy one. Since Wenger himself is an anarchist, he accepts his role only because the other teacher refused to switch. However, he goes into the project with enthusiasm and, as a popular teacher, has the students' full attention.He begins by demanding that all students address him as "Herr Wenger", as opposed to Rainer, and changes the seating arrangement in a direction facing the front of the class, placing students with poor grades beside students with good grades – purportedly so they can learn from one another and become better as a whole. If the students want to say something aloud, they must stand up and give short pre-considered answers. Wenger shows his students the effect of marching together in the same rhythm, motivating them by suggesting that they could really annoy the class below them (the Anarchy class).
Wenger suggests every student in the group should wear a white shirt and jeans, to remove class distinction and further unite the group. Mona also argues it will remove individuality as well. The student Karo (Jennifer Ulrich) shows up to class without the uniform and is surprised to find out that everyone is wearing a white shirt and jeans. While Karo actually tried a shirt on she chose not to wear it, which is hinted at being because of an ostracising comment from her mother. The students suggest that since they are a group, they should choose a name, and they decide on "Die Welle" (The Wave). Karo suggests another name, which ends up with no votes at all. The group is shown to grow closer, and the bully Bomber is shown to reform for the better, protecting a classmate from bullies. He also creates a distinctive salute for the group. Karo and Mona, protest against the actions of the group, and Mona, disgusted with how her classmates are embracing fascism, leaves the project group. The other classmates don't see any connection with their activity and fascism seeing only good things come from the movement. The members of The Wave begin spray-painting their logo around town, having parties where only Wave members are allowed to attend and generally, even unwittingly, ostracising and tormenting anyone not in their group.
One young man in particular, Tim, becomes very attached to the group, having finally become an accepted member of a social group in school. He burns his name-brand clothes after a discussion about how large corporations do not take responsibility for their actions. A pair of punks start a fight with Tim, but he is saved by Bomber and Sinan and starts to bond with them. Tim and his group of new friends were walking in the street when a group of angry anarchists(including the punks that Tim faced previously) appeared and the older anarchist (Maxwell Richter) accuses the group of covering their symbols with The Wave logo, Bomber insults the anarchist and starts a fight, moments later Tim suddenly pulls a Walther PP pistol and threatens the anarchists, which leaves the place without options. The group shocked complains to Tim why he's carrying a handgun, which replies that is a toy he acquired from the internet, making the group doubt. Tim later shows up at Wenger's house, offering to be a bodyguard. Wenger invites Tim in, saying he can have dinner, but no guarding is necessary. This puts further strain on Wenger already tense relationship with his wife, who thinks the experiment has gone too far. Wenger finally ejects Tim from his house, only to find in the morning that the boy had slept on his doorstep. Wenger's wife, upset, tells him to stop the experiment immediately. He accuses her of being jealous of him because his experiment and way of teaching is more popular and better than anything she has ever done before (as she is also a teacher), and proceeds to insult her. Shocked, she leaves him saying the Wave has even made him a worse person.
Karo continues her attempts to expose the actions of the Wave, eventually earning the anger of many in the group, who approach her boyfriend, Marco (Max Riemelt), and ask him to do something about it. A water polo competition is due that day, to which Wenger (who is also the water polo manager) along with Sinan and Marco ask The Wave to be present. A fight breaks between Sinan and an opponent in the middle of the match, which results in them almost drowning each other before being stopped by Wenger; while the Wave supporters watching the match in the seats start fighting the rival team's fans as well. Karo and Mona take advantage of the chaos in the seats to sneak inside the pool court and throw papers with messages against The Wave. After the match Marco confronts Karo and accuses her of causing the fight that broke out in the seats and caused the match to be cancelled, to which she replies that the Wave has brainwashed him completely. During their confrontation Marco becomes angry and slaps Karo, this cuts her lip and she bleeds, seeing this snaps him into realising what the Wave has made him. Marco approaches Herr Wenger and asks him to stop the project. Wenger tells Marco to leave it up to him, and calls a meeting of all Wave members for the following day, in the school's auditorium.
Once in the meeting, Wenger has the doors locked and begins whipping the students into a fervour, shouting that they will roll over Germany and change things to the way they ought to be. Marco protests and Wenger calls him a traitor and orders the students to bring him to the stage for punishment. Wenger uses this to force all the students into seeing how extreme the Wave has become and mentions how no one at the start of the week believed that autocracy could rise again in Germany. Wenger disbands the Wave but the student Dennis argues that many good things came from the Wave as well and that they should find a way to remove the bad parts. Wenger responds that it's true that some good things came from the Wave but the cost is too high and that the bad things will never go away. Tim draws a gun and refuses to accept the Wave is over, fearing that he will once more be lonely. Tim states that the Wave is his life. Bomber tries to calm Tim down and take the gun but Tim shoots him and then takes his own life. Wenger cradles his corpse and looks helplessly at his now traumatised students.
The film ends with Wenger being arrested by the police and driven away. As this happens, Marco and Karo embrace and comfort each other, signalling a reconciliation between them. In the very last shot Wenger sees something ahead of him that frightens him, but this is not revealed to the audience leaving it out to speculation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_(2008_film)
Classic Wenger.
